A new school year means new opportunities to show your school pride in a non-cheesy way. While it’s great to rock team swag via your clothes — who doesn’t love a cozy hoodie with your fave mascot on it? — people seem to forget that you can have a lot of fun showing your school spirit with your makeup, too. That doesn’t *always* have to mean painting your entire face with your team colors in a way that puts the cheerleaders to shame. You can rock a range of looks if you’re down to switch up your daily makeup on game days and still look super cute. Now break out your megaphones and lipstick and prepare to stand out from the crowd.
You’re in the parking lot setting up your tailgate before most of your classmates even wake up. Game days are *everything* to you and you want to take your school spirit to the next level — including your makeup:
1. Color your eyebrows: We bet you’ll be the only one at the game sporting your fave team’s colors on your *brows*. Why not embrace the true fan you are and rock vibrant brows with confidence? You’ll be a conversation starter and a trendsetter in the makeup-at-sporting-events world of beauty ;) If you want to reeeally take this look to the next level, you can add glitter to your brows for even more punch.
2. Go for glittery eyeliner: Glittery eyeliner doesn’t have to be reserved for your sixth-grade self: You can wear it with pride at a sporting event and make people do a double-take (in a good way). Urban Decay’s Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliners ($20) have great staying power, come in every shade of the rainbow and have an easy-to-use fine-brush applicator.
3. Wear a true-to-color lipstick: Rock a true-to-color lipstick for your next game day; it’s probably the boldest look out of all of these. Lime Crime Unicorn Lipstick ($18) is known for its insane matte lipstick colors, which is essential if you want to be super bold with your look.
How to Wear Bold School Spirit Makeup (That’s Still Cute)
You’re typically found rounding up your friends and getting everyone to join in on celebrating the big game in a chill way, like at a house party or backyard BBQ. Your friends can always count on you to bring the beer and good vibes. You want people to notice your school-spirit-themed look but still be able to wear it to the bar after the game without looking too over the top.
1. Layer on the colored eyeliner: This method is a fun way to show off all of your team’s colors. As long as you allow for enough drying time and use a slow-and-steady application technique, your eyes will speak for themselves when it’s time for kickoff. The brighter the shade, the bolder the look — this is not the time for black eyeliner, y’all.
2. Punch up your locks with hair chalk: Hair chalk is a great temporary and inexpensive solution to switching up your hair if dyeing is out of the question (or if you don’t want to break out a wig ;) Once you become a hair chalk pro, you can (and should!) experiment with different shades and styles, like color blocks, streaks and even rainbow hair.
3. Swipe on sheer lip colors: Since you’re probably wearing your team colors in some prominent way — maybe a jersey with your jeans or a scrunchie and sporty striped socks with a cute romper — add just a touch of color to your lips to coordinate with everything else. A sheer wash of coral or berry will enhance your look without taking away from the other bold aspects you want to shine through.
How to Wear Subtle School Spirit Makeup (That’s Still Cute)
You’re always cheering on your team, but don’t need to show off your school spirit in an over-the-top way. You want your look to be extra special — it is game day, after all — but still natural. This is a tricky thing to balance, but you’ve got a more subtle makeup game plan up your sleeve that’s all about the details.
1. Add color to your lashes: This is such an unexpected way to incorporate your school’s colors into a look, and it’s totally DIYable with products you already have. You can keep the rest of your makeup normal and just opt for a really subtle punch of color on your lashes, or you can use colored mascara as the finishing touch on a more spirited look.
2. Go for pop-of-colored eyeliner: Instead of applying bright liner to your entire top lash line, consider applying it *only* to the middle section of your bottom lashes. Yep. That’s it! It’s one of those looks that will leave people thinking there’s something different/extra special about your makeup without your look screaming I HAVE BRIGHT EYELINER ON. Make sure to use sparingly so it stays subtle.
3. Include shimmer: Play with extra shimmer on your look (unless you go to school in the desert/have to deal with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees/live in Arizona). This is *not* limited to your face, either! Try a dry body oil that contains shimmery goodness; it’s a great way to amp up your school spirit in a slightly more natural way than others listed here.
What are your favorite ways to show your school spirit? Would you try one of these looks? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
